After all, that's why we read historical fiction-to be transported to another time, and to be astonished at ancient people's lives and traditions, just as they would probably be astonished at ours.

I'm not staring. I'm observing. . . . And what do you observe? . . . A brave young woman who has always fought for what was right, even when it was unpopular.

You will never have to marry for money. You will never have to depend on anyne but yourself.

What I think and what Iam prepared to say are entirely different things.

I wonder if our names determine our destiny, or if destiny leads us to choose certain names.

Even in the most wretched life, there’s hope.

Fortune does not change men, it unmasks them. —SUZANNE NECKER, WIFE OF JACQUES NECKER, MINISTER OF FINANCE